On Sunday, Page Six Magazine published a review I wrote for them about Congee Village. Below is the screen shot I captured of the review that’s posted on their website (in case you don’t get the NYPost delivered every Sunday):

It was a great opportunity to work with Page Six Magazine and I hope they publish more of my brunch reviews in the future!

Remember this cart?

It’s Dogmatic, the freaking tastiest hot dog in New York. It was pretty sad this summer because the cart was never at Bleecker Street Park, but I spoke with Jeremy Spector today and he let me know that Dogmatic is opening in TWO WEEKS (possibly three). They’re opening a store in Union Square (on 17th between 5th and Broadway) and I am BEYOND EXCITED! I’m going to have the opportunity to eat hot dogs ALL THE TIME like Liz Lemon on 30 Rock! YAAAAY!

In my previous post, I mentioned how we went fishing and caught a bunch of flounder. We didn’t stay in a hotel with a grill (although that would’ve been pretty cool if we found more people to come with us) so we weren’t sure what to do with our fish, especially since we didn’t have a cooler and it was our first day in Montauk (we didn’t want to keep the fish in the fridge for another 3 days). I asked a couple of locals what we should do with our freshly caught flounder and they all suggested we take them to Wok N’ Roll, a local Chinese restaurant:

I wasn’t expecting much, especially because it was in a shopping center, but I’ve found that some of the best Chinese food is often found in strange locations (for instance, Tang Dynasty, the awesomest Chinese food ever is in a decrepit shopping center in Urbana, IL). Chris isn’t a big fan of Chinese food, so we decided to order chicken fried rice, which is really difficult to F-up. For the fish, there were lots of different ways to prepare it (General Tso’s style, Fried, etc). We decided to go with the traditional Chinese style, meaning with a little ginger, soy sauce, oil, and green onion.

Our chicken fried rice:

I requested to have brown rice instead of white rice (because when you have white rice, it’s usually 1. old rice that they didn’t sell the previous night and 2. doused with soy sauce). The chicken fried rice was surprisingly delicious and the brown rice was really nutty and chewy (kind of like quinoa). I was really surprised with the quality of the dish (although it is kind of difficult to mess up fried rice).

Our fish came out next, and I was REALLY excited to try it. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything I’ve caught/killed. A picture of Chris with our fish:

And our two pounds of hard work:

We dug into the fish and were surprised at how meaty it was - I guess I hadn’t ordered flounder in a restaurant since I was a kid and had forgotten the texture. Our ginger/oil/soy sauce combination was probably the best pick for our fish because it was the best way to taste the freshness of the fish without having to eat it raw.

On our way out, we saw one of the owners wrapping dumplings, which is pretty impressive for a small restaurant (don’t most places just buy wontons pre-made?) I was pleasantly surprised with the service and food at Wok N’ Roll and will definitely go back (even if I’m not bringing in freshly caught fish).

Two weeks after Artichoke opened, I went there with Chris to check it out. There was no line (which is unheard of now) and we were really looking forward to trying their supposedly awesome pizza. The owners are cousins and were really nice and talked to me about how they started Artichoke while they were preparing our pizza (more below).

Artichoke pizzeria:

So the place opened a while ago and I’m sure you’ve read a lot about it, but it was started by these guys from Staten Island and New Jersey. One of the owners’ mom’s has a restaurant on Staten Island, and he got his start by making breads at her restaurant. People really liked it, so he kept experimenting and made the Artichoke pizza (a spinach and artichoke pie). Here is one of the owners making our pie:

The guys found the 14th location by luck - they were walking by it one day and saw the for lease sign and decided to try it out. When Chris and I first went there, they were still commuting from Staten Island everyday (I know they were looking for a place to live and don’t know if they found somewhere closer to Manhattan), but they worked really hard trying to get the restaurant together and told me it’s pretty normal for them to stay until 4AM before they head back to Staten Island. It got rave reviews (hence them staying until 4AM to please everyone) and even David Chang from Momofuku bought a couple pies for his employees during the first couple of weeks. They also serve cauliflower fritters and other things, but their pizzas are the main attraction.

After about 20 minutes, our pie came out of the oven:

Initially, Chris and I were in shock - the pizza looks so….heavenly and delicious! We took the pizza back on the L and couldn’t wait to get home so we had our initial slice while waiting for the subway:

We were so excited that I burned the roof of my mouth trying to scarf down the slice. It was salty and creamy from the Parmesan cheese, and the crust was pretty crunchy (a little stiff, actually). After one slice, I felt a little…bloated (to be perfectly honest). In reality, it tasted like an appetizer from TGI Friday’s (the spinach and artichoke dip that comes with slices of pita). The sauce is too heavy and you really can’t have more than one slice (otherwise your arteries will hate you in the morning). Chris and I went back to try the regular pizza (marinara and cheese) but weren’t impressed by it, either. The crust was too stiff and there wasn’t enough sauce OR cheese. They just introduced another slice, the crab pizza, which I heard is selling well. It sounds too similar to a crab dip - I didn’t try it, but I read that it’s disgusting.

How to get to Artichoke Basille Pizzeria:

Artichoke Basille Pizzeria
328 East 14th Street
New York, NY 10003
212-228-2004

A lot of people randomly e-mail me about how much crap I eat. Some people think it’s awesome, but most people are telling me that I should be eating more vegetables instead of cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, and eggs. Well, to tell you the truth, I’m not the HEALTHIEST eater, but I get by because I only eat like crap one day a week (three meals on Saturday or Sunday of ANYTHING I WANT). On the other days (when I’m in New York), I usually end up ordering food from SeamlessWeb. There are a lot of great restaurants on the website and you don’t have to have to talk to anyone on the phone about taking your order (you just click on buttons and then if you have any special requests, type it into a nice little box before checking out). Some of my favorite places are Eva’s, The Pump, and 99 miles to Philly (Eva’s and The Pump have a lot of healthy options, 99 miles to Philly has CHEESESTEAKS). It’s online shopping with instant gratification!